The University will schedule town halls and listening sessions to solicit perspectives from throughout the UConn community on the process
Students walking along the pathway in front of Wilbur Cross on August 27, 2025. (Sean Flynn/UConn Photo)
UConn is undertaking an initiative to overhaul its current incremental budgeting process and develop an approach that is more transparent and intuitive, ensures equity across its academic and administrative units, and supports its commitment to student success.
The budget transformation initiative started in July and is closely aligned with the goals outlined in the UConn Strategic Plan and its Strategic Enrollment Management Plan.
It will enable UConn's budget model to align allocations more effectively to specific metrics tied to institutional priorities; ensure that centrally managed costs are fairly distributed; and incentivize units to allocate resources in alignment with institutional priorities, rather than viewing funds as exclusively owned by individual departments.
The initiative aims for a budget process that will:
• Be simple, understandable, manageable, logical, and transparent.
• Foster enrollment growth through effective resource allocation.
• Build incentives to create efficiencies, advance stewardship of resources, and reduce expenses.
• Establish guardrails and an incremental phase-in from the current budget model.
• Promote and reward academic excellence and innovation.
• Reflect and execute upon the University's mission and priorities.
• Foster trust, responsibility, and accountability around sound decision making.
The project started with data gathering this summer, with consultants carrying out discovery interviews this month with leaders of academic units, central services departments, and auxiliary operations, guided by a University-led steering committee.
The interviews aim to gain perspective on the current process, highlight what is working well, and identify areas for improvement.
Several working groups will be developed to review and recommend options, which will be analyzed in early 2026 and used as the roadmap for the new budget model. The working groups will bring together a cross-section of faculty and staff from across the University, ensuring a wide range of perspectives and expertise.
Over the course of the academic year, the University will schedule town halls and listening sessions to solicit perspectives from throughout the UConn community on ways to make the new budget model more modernized, transparent, and equitable.
While the current budgeting approach will remain in place for FY27, the new prototype model will operate concurrently as what is known as a "shadow year." The dual-track approach will enable side-by-side comparisons between the existing and proposed models, allowing for refinement and necessary adjustments before full implementation in FY28.
The budget transformation initiative honors shared governance and will be built on the feedback received from all corners of UConn's operations. Once established, the model will continue to evolve, with continual updates to evolve with changing circumstances.
A website has been created on the Budget Transformation Initiative
